{
  "altLabels": [
    "Hybrid Search"
  ],
  "definition": "Retrieval that combines evidence, candidates, or scores from multiple retrieval approaches or representations.",
  "derivedRelations": [
    {
      "target": "semantic-search",
      "type": "related"
    }
  ],
  "id": "hybrid-retrieval",
  "kind": "GeneralConcept",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
  "links": [
    {
      "label": "Pinecone hybrid search overview",
      "type": "officialHomepage",
      "url": "https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/search/hybrid-search"
    },
    {
      "label": "Weaviate hybrid search overview",
      "type": "officialHomepage",
      "url": "https://weaviate.io/hybrid-search"
    }
  ],
  "modifiedAt": "2026-09-12T21:39:00Z",
  "prefLabel": "Hybrid Retrieval",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "Searchplex",
    "url": "https://searchplex.net/"
  },
  "relations": [
    {
      "note": "Hybrid retrieval commonly combines dense retrieval with lexical or sparse retrieval; it is not the same as dense retrieval alone.",
      "target": "dense-retrieval",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Reciprocal Rank Fusion is one rank-fusion method that may combine hybrid retrieval results; it is not the hybrid retrieval concept itself.",
      "target": "reciprocal-rank-fusion",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Hybrid retrieval often includes dense single-vector retrieval, but hybrid retrieval names a combination of retrieval signals rather than the single-vector representation format itself.",
      "target": "single-vector-retrieval",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "target": "dense-retrieval",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "lexical-retrieval",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "rank-fusion",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "reciprocal-rank-fusion",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "result-fusion",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "score-fusion",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "single-vector-retrieval",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "sparse-retrieval",
      "type": "related"
    }
  ],
  "representations": {
    "html": "https://id.searchplex.net/hybrid-retrieval/",
    "json": "https://id.searchplex.net/hybrid-retrieval.json",
    "jsonld": "https://id.searchplex.net/hybrid-retrieval.jsonld"
  },
  "scheme": "https://id.searchplex.net/scheme/",
  "scopeNote": "In current production search and RAG usage, hybrid retrieval most often means combining BM25 or lexical retrieval with dense vector retrieval, commonly single-vector retrieval. The concept is broader than that default pairing and does not imply one particular fusion algorithm.",
  "status": "published",
  "uri": "https://id.searchplex.net/hybrid-retrieval/"
}